The final days of a calendar year invite reflection. As I was beginning to make plans and set goals for my landscape in 2018, I spent some time reviewing the past season by organizing plant labels and garden center receipts, reading entries in my garden journal, and looking through all of the photographs taken of… Continue reading 2017 Garden Reflections

It’s just about time to decide which tropical plants get to spend the winter indoors and which ones will be sentenced to the compost bin. I wish I could save them all but: I live in a small house. My husband doesn’t want to live in a jungle. My grandboys spend every Friday with me… Continue reading Overwintering Tropical Plants

Sometimes things work out in the garden even better than planned. Do you remember when a croton inspired the containers on my front porch and turned a plan for purple into a tropical paradise? Here’s the original post if you missed it or would like to refresh your memory. The plants have grown beautifully, filling… Continue reading Front Porch Tropical Paradise – An Update

I love purple. I typically can’t get enough purple flowers, purple foliage, and purple pots. I had every intention of welcoming guests to our home this summer with a front porch packed with purple. And then it happened. Our order of tropical plants arrived at work. While unwrapping mandevillas winding their way up trellises and… Continue reading Front Porch Tropical Paradise

Several weeks ago, I spoke to the Garden Club of Mt. Prospect at the Friendship Park Conservatory in Des Plaines. I arrived early so I would have time to experience the conservatory before my presentation. Outside, winter winds were gusting over 50 mph but inside the conservatory, the air was warm and the flowers and… Continue reading Walk through Friendship Park Conservatory